OK...I am glad that I am declining NYU then. Hunter is a lot cheaper and allows for the opportunity to teach under an internship certificate before graduation. I am not sure if the other schools allow that, but I will look into it. I don't want to stay in NYC, though, so Columbia's name recognition might be helpful. Do you know anything about the TESOL program at UPenn?

Without knowing anything about UPenn, I believe it would be a great opportunity, if for no other reason than name recognition. But I'm sure the program is excellent.

Hunter would be a solid choice, but I wouldn't be swayed by their internship. Wherever you go, at least in New York City, you should have plenty of chances for part-time ESL work. I'm at a CUNY school, and in my four semesters I've taught grammar workshops (as a TA), community-based ESOL classes, for-credit freshman composition courses, and even world humanities. Most of that teaching experience has come at CUNY campuses, including my own. I didn't start graduate school with much of a teaching background--just a year teaching in South Korea, so if I can get those jobs, any other graduate students should as well.

I did accept at Columbia and am very excited! As a plus, I love the campus, too. NYU is in a cool area, but it doesn't really have a campus.
Hopefully it won't take me more than three semesters to finish the program. I don't think I can take too many more NYC winters.
Thanks for all your comments!

I did accept at Columbia and am very excited! As a plus, I love the campus, too. NYU is in a cool area, but it doesn't really have a campus.
Hopefully it won't take me more than three semesters to finish the program. I don't think I can take too many more NYC winters.
Thanks for all your comments!

How does one "accept at" a university, particularly when it's the university that decides whether or not to accept one as a student?

That still doesn't explain "accept at." Besides, I don't know of any college/university that's just going to blindly come up to someone and offer him a place there. One generally must first apply and then the college/university decides whether or not to accept you; then you decide whether you're going to follow through on your application by actually attending or if you've changed your mind and decided you didn't want to go there after all.

Anyway, I wish you well at Columbia and New York City winters are fairly tame (okay, that huge storm a number of weeks ago was a fluke).